Charles e



(NoMoael.)

C. E. SGRIBNER.

AUTOMATIC SWITGEEOE TELEPHONES'.

110,248,671. l Patentd 0013.25, 1881.

witnesses Inv ehi-q1 had? s E. Scrj e1* UNITED STATES PATENT OEErcE.

CHARLES E. SCRIBNER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE WEST- ERN ELECTRIC MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

AUTOMATIC SWITCH FOR TELEPHONES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 248,671, dated October 25, 1881,

Application filed August 24, 1880. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES E. SoRrBNER, of Chicago, Cook county, Illinois, have discovered certain new and usefull m provements in Automatic Switches for Telephones, ot' which the following is a i'ull, clear, concise, and exact description.

My invention consists of a pin orhook and a lever or circuit-changer so combined with a 1o wedge (in this instance a. telephone or telephone-ring) that when the hook and lever are separated by the wedge the main circuit is changed from the telephone to the call-`oell.

In the drawings, Figurel is a front elevation 1 5 of my switch. Fig. 2 is a sectional view thereof upon the line 0o x.

A Hat spring provided with a slot for the hook, as shown in Fig. 3, may be used instead ot' the movable lever.

The dotted lines in Figs. l, 2, and 3 show the wedge inserted and the positions respectively assumed by the lever and spring.

l will now describe my invention minutely as embodied in Fig. 4.

The frame A is made preferably of brass and may be attached to a magneto call-box placed at any given station. Lever B is pivoted t0 lugs upon the sides ofthe slot in thefraine, as

shown. The screw C, insulated from the lever,

3o is held in contact with the pointD ofthe frame by the spring E. On inserting a metallic wedge between the lever and the insulated hook or pin F, the circuit of lines a and b is opened at the point D, and a new circuitformed between line a and line e through the medium of the wedge. Thus when the wedge is removed, as in the drawings, the wires c and b are electrically connected through the medium of the screw C and frame A, and their connec- 40 tion is broken when the lever is wedged away from the hook, and at the same time a new connection is formed between wires a. and c through the medium of the wedge or ring of the telephone which has been inserted.

In the form shown in Fig. 2 the main line a,

which is permanently connected with the movable lever ot' the switch, is inthe circuit of line e of the call-bell as long as the ring ot' the telephone is inserted between the xed pin and movable lever, as indicated by the dotted line. On removing the telephone from the switch the connection between line a and line e is broken,and thecireuit oflineais closed through line b of the telephone, as indicated by the full lines.

Fig. 5'shows a moditication of the switch, in which an additional point is attached to the lever for the purpose of shuntiug the call-bell when the telephone is in use.

l claiml. In an automatic switch, the combination ot' a xed pin, a circuit-changer, and metallic wedge, said wedge, when inserted, moving the circuit-changer and serving as an electric medium between the pin and circuit-changer.

2. The combination ot'a xed pin, a circuitchanger or lever and its electricalconnections, and a wedge attached to the telephone, whereby when the wedge is placed between the pin and leverl the circuit ofthe main lineis directed through the call-bell, said circuit being automatically restored to the telephone when the wedge is removed.

3. The combination of a telephone and its support with a contact-piece carried by the telephone and electrical connections, whereby when the telephone is on its support the circuit is closed through the support and open to the telephone.

4. ln a telephone apparatus, a metallic telephone-supporting hook, a telephone, a metallic supporting-ring attached to the telephone, and

electric circuits, whereby when the ring is placed on the hook' the main-line circuit is established through the call-,bell and cut oft from the telephone.

CHARLES E. SCRIBNER. Witnesses:

GEORGE P. BARTON, JAMES L. BAIRD. 

